This invention relates to a phone and an electronic data storage device which can be worn on the body, and more particularly relates to a phone that can be used as comfortably as a handheld phone and to an electronic data storage device with simplified connection to a USB port of a computer.
Mobile telephones also commonly referred to as cell phones are becoming smaller and smaller all the time. The miniaturization of circuits is now allowing engineers the ability to package mobile phones in ever more compact sizes. Mobile telephones in the size and shape of a wristwatch are now possible.
Most small mobile phones on the market today allow the usage of a hands-free headset that plugs into a jack in the phone and then attaches around or into the ear. Typically along the cord or on an extension boom projecting downward from the earpiece is a microphone. This is necessary to improve the sound pickup from the mouth of the user.
Most phones also permit usage by holding the phone up to the side of the head directly to locate a speaker within the phone near to the ear and a microphone in the phone near to the mouth as people have become accustomed to with home based corded phones. This is important since it allows usage of the phone without the headset. These headsets typically have a wire that is three to five feet long. This allows the user to talk while the phone is located on a belt-clip or in a pocket. This wire, however, can easily tangle and is difficult to retrieve, unwind, plug into the phone and mount on the ear to answer an incoming call before the caller hangs up or the voice messaging system takes the call.
A phone in the form or a wristwatch has the problem of being very awkward for the user to hold to near their ear for more than a short period of time. The basic watch shape does not locate a microphone close to one""s mouth. An extension boom with a microphone could be added but it would create an undesirable appendage and it would not resolve the awkwardness of holding to the ear.
Some attempts have been made at solving this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,818 to Olsen discloses a wristwatch which can be removed from the wearer""s wrist and placed adjacent the head of the user for use as a radiotelephone. One problem with this watch is the flexibility of the band which makes it awkward to use and hold in a constant and comfortable position using only one hand. The speaker is located on an exterior portion of the watch so that the exterior of the watch must be held to the user""s head thus requiring that the watch be bent in an opposite manner than when it is worn on the wrist.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,560 to Seager solves the flexible wristband problem by employing a rigid wristband. However, this does not allow adjustment to different user wrist sizes and requires complicated manual maneuvering of the wristband before the radiotelephone can be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,253 to Charlier et al incorporates an inwardly facing speaker on a flexible wristband, however Charlier et al requires an additional bulky housing at the inner wrist portion when worn by the user which can interfere with normal daily operations.
While these patents have attempted to solve the problems associated with wristwatch phones that must be spoken into and listen to from one location, and have eliminated the need for long and troublesome headsets, they have neglected the xe2x80x9chands freexe2x80x9d aspect of phones which has become very desirable when driving or when phone conversations become lengthy and tiresome on the arms.
The miniaturization of electronic circuits now allows, engineers to package sophisticated devices into very compact spaces, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistant (xe2x80x9cPDAxe2x80x9d), MP3 (MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) audio Layer-3) music player, voice recorder, infrared remote controller, Global Positioning System (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d) sensor, and solid-state data storage devices. Data can be downloaded into or synchronized with a computer via a hard-wired connection or an infrared wireless connection. The versions that are hard-wired commonly have a cradle that the device connects to which has a wire that connects to the computer""s serial or Universal Serial Bus (xe2x80x9cUSBxe2x80x9d) port.
USB provides an easy and fast connection of a vast majority of peripheral devices to a computer. Laptop computers, desktop computers, wearable computers, and PDA""s are commonly manufactured with USB ports in order to take advantage of the variety of peripheral devices which are built around that architecture. Many USB peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, mice, joysticks, digital cameras, web cams, modems, speakers, phones, etc., come with their own built in cable, and the cable has an xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d connection on it. The xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d connector is a connector which heads upstream towards the computer. A USB port on a computer is designed to accept an xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d connector. If the USB peripheral device does not have a built in cable with the xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d connector, then the device has a socket on it that accepts a USB xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d connector. The xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d connector is a connector which heads downstream and connects to an individual device. Since the USB port on the computer only accepts the xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d connector and not the xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d connector, plugging the cable into either or both the computer and the peripheral device is nearly error-proof.
The USB standard provides that in addition to carrying data bi-directionally, A USB cable must also supply electrical power unidirectionally. The power and data passes through pre-defined terminals or pin-outs provided on standardized plugs on each free end of the USB cable. The plugs are defined in the standard as having different forms at upstream and downstream ends. Each plug can mate only with a complementary shaped receptacle or port provided in the USB device to be connected. Thus, the standard ensures that a cable can only be connected to provide power from an upstream port to a downstream port.
The above discussed and other drawbacks and deficiencies are overcome or alleviated by a wrist-worn phone including a main housing having a front surface and a rear surface, the rear surface including speaker holes, the front surface having a display, a first strap attached to a first end of the main housing, the first strap having an outer end area, a second strap attached to the second end of the main housing, the second strap having an outer end area, the outer end area of the first strap for connecting with the outer end area of the second strap, wherein the second strap is made from a shape retaining material for forming a generally elongated C shape, and wherein the rear surface of the main housing is on an interior of the C shape.
In an alternate embodiment, a wrist-worn phone includes a speaker housing, a pair of straps for connecting the speaker housing to a wrist, and an ear hanger connected to the speaker housing for hanging the speaker housing on a human ear.
In an alternate embodiment, a body-worn device includes an electronic data storage unit, a first strap having a first end and a second end, the first end connected to a first side of the unit, a USB plug connected to the second end of the first strap, a cable within the strap connecting the USB plug to the unit for providing electronic communication between the USB plug and the unit, a second strap having a first end and a second end, the first end of the second strap connected to a second side of the unit, wherein the first and second straps are connectable to each other, and wherein an overall length of the first and second straps is sized for encircling a body part.
The above discussed and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following description and drawings.